Thursday, February 4, 2016

Alice Cooper’s Hollywood Vampires will pay tribute to the late Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister at the Grammy Awards next week.

Rolling Stone reports the band will perform a Motorhead classic as part of a two-song set that will also see the premiere of "As Bad As I Am", one of three bonus tracks featured on the upcoming deluxe edition of the Hollywood Vampires’ 2015 self-titled debut that’s due February 12.

"We started this band as a means to toast our 'dead drunk friends' at the Rainbow, all the ghosts in the bar,” says Cooper, “and now I guess Lemmy is involved in that, too. Lemmy was one of those salt-of-the-earth guys. Find me somebody who didn't love Lemmy. He's just one of those guys that's impossible not to like.

“He was always funny,” Cooper continues. “I'm a 'healed' alcoholic and I haven't had anything to drink in 35 years. A lot of people that drink always feel a little bit like they owe an explanation to me.

“A couple weeks before his death, Lemmy came up to me and said, 'Alice, I've quit drinking.' And he's got a glass in his hand. And I go, 'Really?' And he says, 'Yeah, I don't drink whiskey anymore. I drink vodka.' And I went, 'Lemmy, do you think your liver has any idea what color the alcohol is?' He said, well it's a step down from whiskey.' And I went, 'OK. Any step's a good step.'"

The Hollywood Vampires – which includes Johnny Depp, Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan, among others – will be on hand to perform during the 58th Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 15 and broadcast on CBS starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Kilmister passed away at his Los Angeles home on December 28, just four days after his 70th birthday.

The legendary rocker’s death certificate listed prostate cancer, cardiac arrhythmia and congestive heart failure as the official causes of death.